Court Rules Yelp Must Release Names Of Reviewers

You know, those product reviews people write on Amazon or Yelp. Many customers rely on them and some people have even dramatized them online - like the actor who read this review by Shelley S. from the ratings website Yelp.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The food was sub-par for such a highly-rated restaurant. Overcooked fish, undercooked noodles, and one dish that wasn't labeled spicy was so hot that my father refused to eat it. I won't be going back to this particular PF Chang's.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

He even added music. Well, now the anonymous nature of these critiques is being question. A court in Virginal says Yelp has got to release the names of seven critics who used their site.

INSKEEP: They gave a Washington, D.C. carpet cleaning service scathing reviews. And now the business owner wants to take them to court, saying they weren't really customers.

GREENE: OK, but we can't go without hearing just one more after reading a review from Yelp.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: He brought flowers for the moms at three of the five tables. And of course, I wasn't one of them. And now, I'm writing this bad review. How insensitive. Do you think the other two table of moms weren't going to notice?

GREENE: And that is the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. MORNING EDITION'S theme music was written by BJ Leiderman and it was arranged by Jim Pugh. I'm David Greene.